Garland rates his new D-MAX as lighter, stronger, faster and better handling than its predecessor but it continues to use production-based body, chassis, and 3.0 litre turbodiesel engine.

In Safari tune, this engine produces 181kW and 589Nm, a significant increase from the 130kW and 380Nm production version.

“We’ve really drawn on all our existing Dakar experience to build this ute and it’s a ripper," Garland said.

"We love doing the Safari and we’ve had a lot of success there, so Harry and I are really looking forward to taking the new D-MAX into battle and hopefully coming away with another win."

Garland’s busy 2012 schedule comes after a treacherous 2011, with a fractured vertebra causing a DNF in last year’s Dakar, followed by a heart attack two months later which required quintuple bypass surgery.

The 2012 Australasian Safari will run for eight days between September 21 and 29th.